If you reside in San Francisco, living your own life, what is the benefit of knowing you are a “Doble Zeta”?

If you live in Baliuag, and know that, somehow, you are related to the personage that the main street is named after, Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez? Does it help your life?

If you find out that these celebrities—Vicky Belo, Ryan Agoncillo, and Gene Gonzalez—they are related to you, what does that mean to you?

If you are a student of La Salle University, and find out that the newest building is named after Brother Andrew Gonzalez, and you are related to him—does your heart swell with pride?

It’s been 202 years since Friar Fausto Lopez, the ancestor of the Gonzalez Doble Zeta, was born in Valladolid, Spain. He travelled to the Philippines when he was 18 years old, fresh from the seminary. He was assigned to Cebu initially, then to Plaridel, Bulacan. When he was 34, he was reassigned to Bulacan, this time to Baliuag. There he met his match, the beauteous Mariquita Gonzalez. She came from a wealthy and landed family. She was strong-willed, intelligent and considered unconventional for her time. Their romantic liaison produced six children—Soledad, Jose, Joaquin, Carmen, Rita and Francisco. Since Mariquita and Friar Lopez were not married, the children took the name of their mother, “Gonzalez”. The “Doble Zeta” is because Gonzalez is spelled with two “z’s” , or “doble zeta” in Spanish.

Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez became well-known in Baliuag, Bulacan because he represented Bulacan in the 1835 Constitutional Convention. The marker in Baliuag says that, “after Mariano Ponce, Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez is the next favorite son of Baliuag.”

Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez moved to the next town Apalit, Pampanga when he married Florencia Sioco, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. They had ten sons who gave them 82 grandchildren.

Table 1. FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE GONZALEZ DOBLE ZETAS

Total

First Generation

Friar Fausto Lopez

1

Second Generation

Soledad

Jose

Joaquin

Carmen

Rita

Francisco

6

Soledad

Jose

Joaquin

Carmen

Rita

Francisco

Third Generation

6

6

10

0

0

11

33

Fourth Generation

24

18

82

0

0

22

146

Alive from 4th Gen

1

2

20

0

0

5

28

My mother, Eglantine, was the third eldest child among the Fourth Generation of the Gonzalez clan. She would have turned 100 years old this 2013. The eldest among the Fourth Generation children was Rogerio Gonzalez, son of Augusto Gonzalez. The second eldest among the Fourth Generation was Eglantine’s brother, Amaury Gonzalez. Eglantine and Amaury were children of Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez’ eldest child, Dr. Fernando Gonzalez.

It was my mother who drummed into my mind the importance of being a Gonzalez. She often said that the Gonzalez had “the bluest blood running in their veins.” Even if it probably meant “the royalty” among the people of Baliuag and Apalit, in my innocent mind, it felt like royalty among the people of the whole Philippines, nay, even of the whole world.

My mother also told me to be proud of being a Gonzalez. It wasn’t too hard, since Brother Andrew Gonzalez’ block-long ancestral house was close to ours. It’s like saying, “We’re rich, too!” Brother Andrew was the son of Augusto “Bosio” Gonzalez, the millionaire brother of my mother’s father. When Augusto made his first million pesos, he built and donated the Municipal Hall of Apalit, Pampanga. He named it after his mother, Florencia Sioco Gonzalez. My mother didn’t say it, but I could tell that her uncle Lolo Bosio was her idol. She wanted to be rich like him one day.

When I was preparing to study at the University of the Philippines, my mother proudly pointed out to me that her Uncle, Bienvenido “Bindo” Gonzalez, the brother of her father, was the Sixth President of the University of the Philippines. Lolo Bindo moved the University of the Philippines from Manila to Diliman, Quezon City, just before the war broke out. He was a highly principled man who refused to give a Doctorate Honoris Causa at the UP to someone he considered a “rebel”, and therefore unworthy of the honor, — the then president of Indonesia, President Sukarno. If I remember right, Lolo Bindo was almost replaced from his job for this action. But he had the support of the students, who shared his strong sense of “honor”. They put up banners and staged rallies. He was reinstated shortly after.

My mother also spoke tenderly of another brother of her father, Pampanga Representative Fausto Gonzalez, who was not only handsome and charismatic; he was also popular as a politician. I used the adverb “tenderly” with regard to Lolo Fausto, because he was so good-looking, he had women fighting over him.

Well, it wasn’t hard to look for Heroes among my mother’s TEN uncles. They were so many to choose from. Then, my mother had 82 first cousins, many of them brilliant and successful as their parents. From her grandfather’s siblings, she had a total of 146 cousins.

Now the baton has passed on to me. My son doesn’t share my mother’s views. He says, “What is so great about coming from an illicit relationship with a priest who broke his vows?”

The Gonzalez Doble Zeta just had a Grand Reunion last January 2014. I tried to involve the Gonzalez Llorets, (I call them the Francisco Gonzalezes, but no one paid attention to my invitation. I was at your Dad’s wake, and I saw your Mom there. Auntie Marie, your grandmother, was there, too, at the wake. I will invite you to the Facebook Gonzalez Doble Zeta Clan group, so you can see what is happening to its members.

Hi Jet, I was at your Dad’s wake when he died. How old are you now? I live in Manila, and I would like to meet more of the Lloret-Gonzalez lineage. I know Tito Joe, Auntie Marie, Tita Anne, but not the younger generation.

My parents just got back from the Philippines and brought along a booklet of the Gonzalez Family tree which was given to my Dad by his brother who attended the last family reunion. This booklet was given to the attendees. I tried to do more search online and it brought me to this site. My Grandfather’s name is Hernando Gonzalez and my Grandmother’s name is Lucia Raymundo.

Wil, I have located you on page 36 of the book. And you can tell that I have very few pictures of your family. Would you like to complete the infos that are missing? You can either input them yourself in the two ancestry trees where our family is displayed. http://www.ancestry.com and look for gonzalezdoblezeta family. I think we are also on My Heritage.com and http://www.geni.com. Or just email them to me, complete with dates of birth, marriages, deaths, etc. My email is eloisa.franco@yahoo.com. You can put them on flicker and just invite me to see them. This is not for me, but for your descendants and relatives. We can continue this conversation on the email, if you wish. Thanks for touching base with me. That is the first step.